Abstract [en]

Issue: Colour has great associative impact on individuals therefore colour plays an important role in brand building. We see a development on the Swedish marketplace where strongly established colour norms that are ruled in diverse product categories start to be called into question. We ask ourselves what benefits a break of norm has and how it affects consumers. Perhaps the theories of colour should be stepped away from and now it is time for brands to break the pattern for success. Our question is therefore: How do Swedish consumers associate colour to different emotions, product categories and brands? What can brands benefit from going against the established colour norms?

Purpose: This study examines the existing gap between the current colour theories and the break of norm we have discovered on the Swedish market. We want to create a clearer picture of consumers associations of colour and their attitude to the break of norm in purpose to investigate what brands can benefit from deviating from the color norms.

Methodology: The mail interviews with professionals are done in order to bring suit in a product perspective, we analyze the meaning content of this information to see how well the applied colour theories are in their work process. The main study is aimed at potential consumers residing in Sweden and has been implemented with a web-based questionnaire that takes place through a convenience sample. Deductive, we examine how the respondents relate to theories of colour. Part 1 of the form consists of close-out response options, and test which of the elementary colours the respondent connects to a given emotion of the theory. Part 2 consists of picture questions that test the consumer's relationship to the break of norm from a product perspective.

Results: The mail interviews with professionals showed a great awareness of colour theory and the communicative impact of colour. The color choice is based on the emotional responses that colour evokes. Part 1 of the survey showed a slight associative relationship between colour and emotion of the colour theory. The colour white showed the highest associative result and yellow showed the lowest. There were no major differences between how men and women responded. The results in Part 2 showed a particular tendency of respondents to choose a norm breaking colouration among electronic products.

Conclusion: It turned out that few respondents were willing to break the colour norms, which points to previous research that says that the colour choices often are based on what they will portray. Women and men tended to respond similarly in both parts of the questionnaire, which make earlier discussions about colour and gender seem antiquated. However, an older age group tended to chose the norm breaking red TV. Employment is important, as respondents with full-time work increasingly chose to violate the norms.